[Grades] Grades v. Magic 1/10/14

IT is struggling in January, shooting only 37.1% thus far. What's the reason?

  • Teams scouting him and adjusting their defense

    Votes: 9 10.7%
  • Tiring out

    Votes: 3 3.6%
  • Simple cold streak

    Votes: 31 36.9%
  • Trying to get people involved/not comfortable in role

    Votes: 27 32.1%
  • Just coming back down to earth/his normal numbers

    Votes: 14 16.7%

  • Total voters
    84
  • Poll closed .
I guess when you see a guy like Ben not always looking interested it worries some folks.


AND he came fromKansas.

I'm a little confused. At what time did McLemore look uninterested? I've never once seen him look uninterested while on the floor. I've seen him look bewildered at times. But he's always moving and trying to get open. Look, he has plenty of faults. He makes mistakes on defense, most of which are correctable, but I don't think lack of effort, or being disinterested is one of those faults. And prey tell, what does Kansas have to do with anything?
 
Well TRob was from Kansas of course, and really they have not turned out stars as a program. Lot of rank and file NBAers, but its been 15 years since Pierce, and before him it was a dozen or so since Manning, and he was a bit of a disappointment.

But really, its notable, but given that there have been at least two coaches during that span I'm not 100% sure it predicts much. Some coaches do have reputations vis a vis certain types of players though.

Oh Yeah! What about some guy named Wilt? Huh? So take that!:rolleyes:
 
I am puzzled by Kansas as they have Wiggins (#1?) and Embiid (another #1) yet the team is ranked 18th in the nation. Why are they not better as a college team? My guess is that the athletically gifted Wiggins is not assertive and that hurts him. He is not a team leader. Embiid is a mass of potential that I think is real and I would take him #1. Put them together on a college team at this point in their basketball lives and you have a #18 team - I guess.

Its not about their talent level, its about their experience. They have a lot of young players on their team, at least three freshman in their starting lineup. Not unusual for young teams in college, despite the talent level, to struggle early in the season. The question is, can the coach get them all on the same page in time for the tournament. The year Kentucky won the whole thing with such a young team made up of Anthony Davis and company was a rarity, and what helped is that they had a very experienced bench.
 
Overall, great game by the guys. I’m glad that they came out to play - it wasn’t OKC but it was good compared to “play to the level of your competition."

1. I.T had a rough night
2. Marcus is still struggling
3. We have some nice chemistry coming together with Demarcus, Rudy & Derrick.
4. Glad that Derrick is figuring out how to be active & aggressive with the second unit.
5. Demarcus needs to be in the All-Star Game.
6. I’m so glad that Toronto didn’t want Rudy.
7. I feel bad for Ben, just when he had a couple game stretch where he started to make his shots, he’s back to missing it. I hope he can figure it out soon.
8. I’m happy for Jimmer, he seems to be getting more comfortable out there. Hopefully he’ll continue to get better and get more minutes…I would like him to make closer passes to teammates, it always seems there’s a big space difference between a lot of his passes.
9. Great Team game.
10. Glad to see Coach smile & laugh during his post game interview.

Just a random question - anybody know how close Marcus Thornton is with his teammates? Or who hangs out with? I had a weird feeling (last night) after watching him play, his chemistry with the rest of his teammates seems off. Maybe I’m just reading too much into it….
 
By no means am I advocating we start Jimmer. I'll leave that to the powers that be, but can we have a conversation without throwing in some negative comment about Jimmer. To call him a streaky shooter when he's shooting 48.4% from the three and 44.1% overall just isn't fair. Yes, he'll have his occasional bad game, but it appears that every miss that Jimmer has is magnified, while other players are ignored. The truth is, he's one of the best, if not the best overall shooter on the team. By the way, he's shooting 100% from the freethrow line so far this year. At least that's what the stats say. I thought for sure he had a miss somewhere.

Other than that, I pretty much agree with you. By the way, for those interested in a comparison. IT is shooting 44.6% overall and 37.8% from the three. His percentages have taken a hit through december and January so far.
I'm sorry I should have explained it better. When I said streaky when talking about jimmer I meant these incredible streaks he has where he scores 10 pts in 3 min. Didn't mean it to sound like he is on and off like Thornton. I do however like to know the negative comment. Unless it was the streaky thing. I love jimmer in this role. I have and can't express that enough. I with he would shoot more instead of looking to pass.
 
It is a remarkable system we have in place when freshman are not capable of playing at a college level because of their lack of experience yet the NBA is expected to take them on in the year they would be sophomores. It seems very likely these very same young men would not be ready to play at the professional level while we throw millions at them. It's too bad that the NBA is in this position. We can't go back to the old days but it would be very nice if we could have a system where the young men would have to prove they are capable of playing before they get the big bucks.
 
Only true star is Gay possibly. Even Cuz outside of our world is not a star yet. Look at the all-star voting. True stars? Really?? Lol.

Cousins is within 8k votes of Dirk. I assume Dirk counts as a true star.

All Star voting is solely about market size and a bit of national media hype. The hardcore of each market stuff the ballots for their guy, and then a great wash of no nothings vote of any name that sounds kinda familiar like they heard it on Sports Center once. Its not much of a way to determine stars.
 
I am puzzled by Kansas as they have Wiggins (#1?) and Embiid (another #1) yet the team is ranked 18th in the nation. Why are they not better as a college team? My guess is that the athletically gifted Wiggins is not assertive and that hurts him. He is not a team leader. Embiid is a mass of potential that I think is real and I would take him #1. Put them together on a college team at this point in their basketball lives and you have a #18 team - I guess.

I forgot Wiggins and Embiid were from Kansas... the same Kansas where T-Rob and McLemore are from... this concerns me.
 
I forgot Wiggins and Embiid were from Kansas... the same Kansas where T-Rob and McLemore are from... this concerns me.

The only way it should be of concern is if you think guys who play for Kansas in the recent past are overhyped.
 
Cousins is within 8k votes of Dirk. I assume Dirk counts as a true star.

All Star voting is solely about market size and a bit of national media hype. The hardcore of each market stuff the ballots for their guy, and then a great wash of no nothings vote of any name that sounds kinda familiar like they heard it on Sports Center once. Its not much of a way to determine stars.

I wonder where cousins ranks in jersey sales? But the way, I think Cuz should be a national star with the way he has been playing. He needs national exposure though and that won't come until the team wins a lot more games. There are plenty of stars on small market teams. Even in Sacramento once upon a time.
 
I forgot Wiggins and Embiid were from Kansas... the same Kansas where T-Rob and McLemore are from... this concerns me.
Wiggins liked to hangout with Embiid and Selden during all-star games last spring as they're all low-key guys, so he texted Self after very long recruiting process "I'm coming to Kansas, coach". Stupid of him not to check Kansas reputation. :D
 
Stats: 36min 22pts (8-13, 0-2, 6-6) 10reb 5ast 0stl 1blk 3TO
Gay ( A ) -- becoming so smooth and consistent that you run out of things to say. Another strong, efficient game. Actually turned the ball over on the very first play of the game trying to feed JT in the post, as that was a major pillar of our early game strategy with the Magic trying to smallball us. But later hit him two times easily on the same pass, and throughout the night again showed himself capable of making nice passes to create for teammates as well as himself. Not really that involved offensively in the early going as we happily went about pounding the itsy bitsy Magic inside, but got a nice baseline shot to fall in the mid quarter, and followed that with a big block on Afflalo the other way. First guy out in our new substitution pattern for Wiliams, and unfortunately when he returned might have been too eager to get going and first thing he did was throw up a random too quick contested three. Started to score, but was taking higher degree of difficulty shots than just about anybody else. But when the Magic went back to the mini lineup, we responded again by having Gay play some SG and were able to basically post with any of our SG through C. Played a nice smooth third, passing the ball, hitting jumpers that look contested, but apparently aren't due to his great length, running the floor with Cuz as those two guys really took control of the game with IT having an off night and sort of did everything from running the point to finishing. Took a hit to the, er, lower stomach again in the early 4th that actually caused one of his turnovers, but revived and was back to solid play. As we returned to our new mega Gay/DWill swingman combo, gave us a major boost on the glass as well. We're 6-8 now since he arrived in the starting lineup. Project that out and if he'd been here full year we would be about 15-20, around the same record as New Orleans or Memphis. Not yet good without moves for some defense, but not laughingstocks either.--Brick


Didn't realize that we were almost .500 with Gay in the lineup.. Wow.. King basketball is getting better and better.

EDIT: Not to mention the place is pretty much sold out every night. There are a few nosebleed seats not sold for most games but I think we have more sellouts this year so far than we have had the last 2-3 years total.
 
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